Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Steve Brustein of Portland, ME with
a 30 pound Block Island striped bass he caught Saturday on No Fluke Charters.

Fluke still holding inshore: Angler Jack Leyden of North Kingstown
with two fluke to 22” he managed to catch while fishing in the Newport Bridge
area after storms last week.

Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle
and Capt. Jack Sprengle of East Coast Charters with the 120 pound bluefin tuna
they caught Friday in Cape Cod Bay.

Lots new at the Newport Boat Show

The Newport International Boat Show
held this weekend was a great success. I
attended Sunday under threatening skies and the in-the-water show docks were
crowded with attendees. Over 600 exhibitors were at the show with an assortment
of boats and a wide variety of accessories, equipment, electronics, gear and
services for boaters. I visited the People’s Choice Award Winning manufacturer
and checked out a few other exhibits that impressed me.

The Nordic Tug 40 foot Flybridge won the People’s Choice award at
the show. Its big sister the Nordic 44
Tug took second place in the People’s Choice.
The Nordic Tugs on display at the show were getting a lot of attention
when I toured them. I ran into three different Nordic Tug owners who were just
stopping by to say hello to the Nordic team.
One owner said, “You know what makes the Nordic a desirable boat… it’s
the fit and finish, just look at this woodwork.” Paul Tortora, sales representative for Wilde
Yacht Sales that represents Nordic, said, “Nordic gives you the economy of a
displacement hull (2.5 gallons/hour), yet it can comfortably cruise into the
mid to upper teens.” The Nordic 40 features
a new wider swim platform with a large stern entry door and new this year a
second side door at the stern. The Nordic Tug 40 brochure price was $729,950.
Visit www.wildeyachts.com for details.

The Parker 2510 walk around with a cuddy cabin is a fishing machine. This stable fishing platform has been
upgraded with some finer touches such as colored hulls and fabrics. Over the past couple of years they added a
stern cockpit door and live well. Tom
Grimes, sales associate for Don’s Marine in Tiverton that represents Parker in
this market said, “Parker was always a great fishing boat appealing to
fishermen. They now have added some
touches like hull colors and fabric colors that appeal to women and families.” The 25 foot Parker on display a the show
featured a Windlass Package, a West
Coast Bow Rail Package, a Sandy Tan Hull and two 200 horsepower engines. The show special price on this 2016 2510 W/A
was $132,366. Visit www.donsmarineri.com for details on this Parker and others.

Dockwa software application that can find you dockage or a mooring in
Newport, Boston, the Cape and Islands, New York and a host of other
destinations. Discover and stay in new harbors… just tap, book a slip or
mooring. The app works from your telephone or the web. The application can be downloaded from the
Apple Store or Google and it is totally free. So book in advance or make a
last-minute reservation with Dockwa. Visit
www.dockwa.com for details.

Zipwake dynamic trim control tabs.
These are not your conventional aluminum trim tabs but a system that
incorporates a state of the art series of durable, fast-acting interceptors
that eliminate the trim problems of planning and semi planning boats between 20
and 60 feet. Zipwake sales associate Dan
Schermerhorn of Pro Marine Distributing said, “The system eliminates boat pitch
when passengers walk around the vessel automatically and the system
automatically eliminates wave resistance which saves fuel and money.” Prices for the system which includes a control
panel, distribution unit and their state of the art interceptors that extend and
retract as needed start at about $1,800 for vessels 18 to 20 feet. To get a feel for how this system works,
visit www.zipwake.com.

Fisheries Council reviews policy document

The Rhode Island Marine Fisheries
Council (RIMFC), which makes commercial and recreational fishing regulation
recommendations, met last week largely to review and approve a new policy and
procedures document for the Council. The
document formalized new Department of Environmental Management (DEM) policy
pertaining to how it solicits public input on fisheries regulations at newly
formed public workshops.

The workshops take the place of
specie advisory panels that use to meet multiple nights rather than at one
workshop meeting. The workshops are part
of the Department’s “lean initiative” that identified ways to save time and
money while enhancing public participation at input meetings.

Although most specie advisory
panels were eliminated, two remain intact; the Industry Advisory Committee
(IAC) that coordinates recommendations from commercial fisheries sectors and
the Shellfish Advisory Panel (SAP) which provides recommendations to the
Council on all shellfish-related matters.

The RIMFC also welcomed two new
councilpersons to their first meeting;
Michael Roderick, an executive at Town Dock, Narragansett and Travis
Barao of East Providence, a recreational fisherman and a member of the RI
Saltwater Anglers Association (RISAA) board of directors.

Striped bass fishing improved greatly
this week as the water cleared from the storm.
Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle, Providence, said, “Anglers are catching
striped bass from shore in the lower Providence River from Pawtuxet to Conimicut
Point using eels and lures. Fishing is also good on the Cape. Customer Elijah
Depaolo (13 years old) caught a 32 pound bass using live eels on the Cape Cod
Cannel.” Jason Macedo of Lucky Bait, Warren caught a 47 pound striped bass last
Friday at Block Island using eels at night.
Angler Eric Appolonia said, “My son Alex and his friends fished the
Southwest Ledge of Block Island this past week and caught nine striped bass on
one drift using eels.” I fished with Steve Brustein of Portland, ME Saturday at
the Southwest Ledge where he managed to hook up with bass to 30 pounds trolling
tube & worm. Bill Sokolowski reports
on the RISAA blog that, “We fished the Southwest Ledge Saturday night and once the sun set bass started to hit on each
drift. Three of us caught a total of ten striped bass. The largest was 35
pounds. We each kept a small fish and released the balance. So much for no fish
on a full moon. It couldn't have been a more beautiful night!” John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait &
Tackle, Riverside said, “School size bass are being caught in the East Passage
with a few keepers mixed in.”

Black sea bass and fluke.
The fluke bite has softened a great deal, however the black sea bass
bite is still good. Angler Mike Swain of
Coventry fished off Narrgansett Saturday and boated six nice black sea bass and
one summer found. I fished south of the
windmill area at Block Island Saturday as well as the Hooter buoy area off Pt.
Judith and did not catch as may black sea bass as we have in the bass with only
short fluke caught at this time. Manny
Macedo of Lucky Bait said, “Sea bass fishing for some customers is OK with
fluke still being gh off Newport and at the mouth of the Sakonnet River.”

False Albacore. “ The albie bite from shore at Pier Five, actually
anywhere from Narrow River to the West Wall has been outstanding from
shore. One customer caught 50 false albacore
from Pier Five. Most people do not eat them but I have some customers that like
eating them. They prepare them using
coconut milk.” said Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle.

Cod fishing has been good.
Angler Lary Norin reports catchingt cod to 30 pounds on Cox’s Ledge. Capt. Frank Blount of the Frances Fleet said,
“Our largest fish this week was in the 20’s with fish taken on both bait and
jigs. Hi hook this week went to an
angler that boated seven nice cod fish.”

Bluefish large and small are being caught in the Bay with skipjacks
growing in size. John Littlefield of
Archie’s Bait said, “Some skipjacks are 6 to 10 inches long, and they are still
very plentiful.” Manny Macedo of Lucky
Bait said, “Bluefish are all over the Bay, more plentiful than they have been
most of the season.”

Tuna fishing for school bluefin is hot at the Cape. Angler Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle
said, “I fished with Capt. Jack Sprengel of East Coast Charters, Warwick Friday
on the Cape and landed a 120 pound bluefin using light tackle with a spinning
reel and jig in 173 feet of water.”

Friday, September 9, 2016

Newport Blues: Angler Steve
Brustein of West Warwick with one of four bluefish caught when a school surfaced
in front of 1st Beach, Newport. The fish were bled and iced in
minutes ready for the smoker.

Fishing after storms

The storm is over. The seas are settling down. Ever wonder what impact storms have on
fishing?

A storm like the one we had this
past week can change fishing a lot. Some
species may leave the area totally. Yet
others species just won’t bite. They may
not bite because the water is dirty with sand and mud that either irritates the
gills of fish so they stop moving around and feeding or they simply cannot see
your bait in murky, cloudy water.

But there is hope. Storms also create
opportunities with reefs, clam and mussel beds that get torn up with broken
shells providing a feeding ground for many of the fish we target. Additionally, a good storm this time of year
often provides a cleansing and a wakeup call to anglers suggesting that it is
time to target fall species like tautog, migrating striped bass, surface
feeding bluefish and false albacore.

“The water is like dirt.” said Matt
Conti of Snug Harbor Marina, South Kingstown.
“A stormy week like we just had can convince a species that it is time
to move. Like summer flounder. Last week, right up until Sunday, we had a
commercial rod & reel fisherman bring in 20 pounds of fluke. So they were still here. But very possibly with a storm like this,
with water this dirty we won’t find them again.
We might get a few stragglers as the fluke move out to deeper
water. At the lower part of the Bay for
example or it may come back for a while off shore. We will have to wait and see.”

There have been an abundance of
school size striped bass in covers and ponds.
Wickford Cove and other ponds and coves around the state are holding
Atlantic menhaden and a lot of smaller bait that the school bass are feeding
on. Matt Conti said, “Salt Pond is
loaded with school bass. This is a place
and species you can target when the weather is bad out in front or offshore.”

At press time the water has started
to clear so hopefully by the weekend anglers will be able to fish for species
such as black sea bass, striped bass, tautog and cod fishing which has been experiencing
a fairly good bite close to shore.

Neil Hayes of Quaker Lane Bait
& Tackle, North Kingstown, said, “Customers have been catching cod fish
just south of the windmill area.” So the
hope is that fall cod fishing will develop like last year… a good bite at the
East Fishing Grounds and around Block Island and waters close to shore, like
the waters off Newport that produced good cod fishing last year.

Another good thing about storms is
that they create new fish habitats with a new food
supply of insects, shrimp, shell fish and small fish that arrive with the
water. These flooded areas and water adjacent to them can become good fishing
areas as the water starts to recede. Fishing
is good at inlets and outflow too because water levels are high due to rain,
abnormally high tides and heavy surf. Once water rushes out of rivers, bays,
and inlets, bait that may have sought refuge up inlets gets tossed around as
they leave for open water where larger fish are waiting.

Good fishing as
the weather clears.

Pabst Blue Ribbon Catch &
Release Tournament selects final winners

The Pabst Blue Ribbon catch and release striped bass, bluefish and summer
flounder (fluke) tournament ended August 20th. To be eligible for the season ending cash
prizes, a minimum of three fish had to be caught and released. The length of the longest three fish in each
specie category makes up an angler’s total entry.

Last week after all winning candidates passed a polygraph test the
results of the competition became final.

Visit www.pbrfishing.com for
details on the September 25 celebration event and for a listing of Junior
Division winners.

Where’s the bite

Summer flounder and black sea bass.
Last week we bottom fished a portion of four separate trips. The areas we covered included the West and
East side of Jamestown and all along the Aquidneck Island’s southern coast from
Elbow Ledge at the Sakonnet River to the Brenton Reef Area. We also fished the
areas around the Newport Bridge. The
result yielded a number of nice sized black sea bass to 21” but only seven
keeper summer flounder. So I am convinced that this storm is very likely to
chase any remaining summer flounder up and out of the area and away from our
coastal shores to deeper water for the rest of the season. Angler Mike Swain of
Coventry said, “I checked my logs from last year and this time last year the
fluke were gone. So I think they are
gone for good this year.” Neil Hayes of
Quaker Lane Bait & Tackle, North Kingstown said, “Fluke fishing had been
great before the storm at Block Island in the wind farm area with tons of nice
black sea bass being caught too.” Frank
Blount of the Frances Fleet said, “Fluke fishing was picky most of the week
with big fish to 10 pounds being caught but the overall numbers were not
good.”

Bonito and false albacore.
The bonito bite is expected to be soft as they seem to be moving out of
the area. Neil Hayes of Quaker Lane
said, “Earlier last week the bonito bite was good along the coastal shore. They were mixed in with schools of bluefish
so anglers were getting cut-off quite a bit.”
However, the false albacore are in.
Matt Conti of Snug Harbor said, “Toward the end of the week the false
albacore were here pretty strong.
Generally when they arrive, the Bonito leave the area. But they were blitzing pretty good last week
before the storm along the southern coast shore.”

Bluefish were on the surface from Elbow Ledge all along the
Aquidneck Island southern coast to Brenton Reef. They were rather spotty, you had to look for
them but they surfaced from time to time. Angler Kevin Fetzer of East Greenwich said,
“We spotted schools of bluefish Sunday off of first beach and we casted into
the fray when they surface. We landed four for a friend who likes to smoke
them. No false albacore on bonito were
mixed in with them.”

Striped bass fishing remained very strong last week. Angler Eric Appolonia said, “We fished with
eels on the Southwest Ledge at Block Island just before and after high tide and
did very well last week.” Matt Conti of
Sung Harbor said, “The commercial season opens again this week so I am sure we
will have a lot of fishermen targeting striped bass as soon as the weather
clears.” Fishing for striped bass can be
hit or miss as the fall migration starts.
Schools of fish move in and out so someday the fishing can be good and
other days it is not good.

“Yellow fin tuna fishing on our first trip of the season was
successful last week as anglers caught fish in the 50 to 70 pound range
drifting chuck bait during the day. The trips will be run into October.” said
Capt. Frank Blount of the Frances Fleet.

Freshwater fishing for trout has not been good. Anglers are waiting or the restocking of
ponds and waterways with trout for the fall and winter season. However, largemouth bass fishing has been
consistently good. Neil Hayes of Quaker
Lane said, “The largemouth bass bite has been good with anglers using shiners
and worms as well as spinner baits with success. Worden Pond and Indian Lake have been
yielding fish consistently for customers.”
Kim Petti of Fin & Feather Outfitters, North Kingstown said,
“Fishing in our spring fed ponds had been good all season. With no rain the ponds did not heat up. The Wood River water level remains high but
everyone is waiting for DEM to restock with trout.”

I looked across the room Monday night and in the audience I
spotted Peter Vican. Peter is a well
respected fisherman in Rhode Island and is the state striped bass record holder
(77.4 pounds). He was listening intently
as Capt. Mike Roy from Connecticut shared his technique for fishing a reef for striped
bass.

Capt. Roy had the full attention of Peter Vican as well as
200 other fishermen who came to listen to him at a RI Saltwater Anglers Association
meeting at The Villa Restaurant, West Warwick. Capt. Roy shared his knowledge
of fish and the new, exciting and effective techniques he has developed to land
fall run fish (striped bass, false albacore and bonito) on light tackle.

Roy is a former school teacher that trailers his 21 foot Steiger
Craft boat. Capt Roy said, “I like to
trailer the boat because it gives me great flexibility. We can fish Connecticut, Rhode Island and New
York waters depending on conditions. It
allows me to fish March to December.”

Here are some light tackle tips Capt. Roy shared.

Along the Connecticut
shore, eels work best at night and live bunker (Atlantic menhaden) works during
the day. Roy said, “I know eels
work during the day at Block Island but not along the Connecticut shore. Perhaps the reason is that there is not
much bunker out at Block Island and the fish are not use to feeding on
them.”

His standard rig uses 50 pound
braid line with a seven foot 50 pound monofilament leader tied directly to
the braid so he can cast and reel more effectively than when a swivel is
used. His seven foot rod is custom
made by him and last year he started to use Shimano reels exclusively. He
using J hooks rather can circle hooks and pays attention to the hook set
so fish are not hooked in the gut.

Capt. Roy said, “I enjoy a
strong hook set. I wait until I
feel a thump, lower the rod tip and they set the hook hard. I will generally set it two more times
to make sure the barb in the hook penetrates the fish.”

Believes in using no weight
with eels (as he often fishes in low water, 15 feet) but does weigh them
down with slip shot (small pieces of lead) when ne needs some weight to
get them down. He is a firm
believer in maintaining contact with the bait to know when you get a hit
and to prevent the eel from burying itself in structure below.

When fishing a surface
blitz of false albacore, bonito or striped bass he positions his boat up
wind and up current casting into the edge of the blitz as he believes in
the ‘iceberg’ effect. Roy said, “The
fish you see on top are only the tip of the iceberg, likely the school is
a lot larger under the surface, often times you can see it on your fish
finder.”

Freshwater fishing has improved as the weather was not as warm this
week. Chris Catucci of the Tackle Box,
Warwick said, “Gorton’s Pond, Warwick, has been giving up some four to five
pound largemouth bass but you have to work for them.” John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait &
Tackle Riverside, said, “Stump Pond has been producing a mix of largemouth bass,
pickerel and perch for customers. There bait of choice has been shiners. We sold a lot of shiners this week. “Dave
Henault of Ocean State Tackle said, “Bass fishermen have been landing fish
shiners as well as with Yamsmoto Senkos.”

Scup/black sea bass fishing remains
strong throughout Narragansett and Mt. Hope Bays with fish being caught around
structure particularly where there is moving water. Chris Catucci of the Tackle Box said,
“Customers have been catching a lot of scup at Conimicut Point and Rocky
Point.” John Littlefield of Archie’s
Bait & Tackle said, “Scup, Tommy cod and some northern king fish
are being caught around Lavin’s Marina on Bullock’s Point Cover,
Barrington.” Angler Ken Blanchard
reports on the RISAA blog, “Fished from 9:45 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (Saturday), lots of short scup
and sea bass at the rock piles near the Quonnie Breachway. Fished the corner of
the Breachway with rubber shad. Caught one schoolie bass about 14 inches and
then got cut off by a bluefish. Started out cloudy and warm with an outgoing
tide. Water is in the mid-70's, clear and weed free (pretty much).” Angler Jack Leyden of North
Kingstown said, “Went out at 2:00 p.m. Saturday about one mile southeast of Pt.
Judith in 64 feet of water and caught large black sea bass and small summer
flounder on every drift.”

Striped bass fishing remains spotty a Block Island during the day
with a much better night bite. Anglers
fishing the north rip and the southwest ledge in daylight have not done well. “The
evening bite is pretty good at Block Island.” said Littlefield of Archie’s
Bait. “Customer Al and Kevin Bettencourt (and Kevin’s son) continue to do well
at the southwest ledge at sunset. This
weekend they caught their three fish and returned to the dock at about 10:30
p.m. They caught a total of 17 fish with
30 ells with black sea bass taking many of the eels.” Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle,
Providence said, “The striped bass bait of choice has been eels with fish taking
pencil popper lures as well.” Fly
fishing expert Ed Lombardo, who has been fishing the Narrow River said, “Shad
and small striped bass are vey abundant.
Lots of fun on a 7 or 8 wt. rod.
Both the incoming and outgoing tide worked well as the fish have been
very aggressive on either tide. Small
all white or all hot pint streamers work well.”
Capt. Frank Blount of the Francis Fleet reports a great night time striped
bass bite. Capt. Blount said, “This week turned out to be
extraordinary for striped bass night fishing. Not only was the boat easily
limited out all three nights, but piles of good size blue fish mixed in too.
Some better size bass mixing were in the 15 to 25 pound range.”

Fluke fishing. Although
somewhat of a slowdown in some areas Mike Wade of Watch Hill Outfitters,
Westerly said, “The fluke bite along the southern coastal shore has moved out
to deeper water outside the Watch Hill Reef in about 60 to 80 feet of water.
Although further out these fish are larger. The outside of the North Rip of
Block Iland is producing fluke too as well as the wind farm area.” I fished the lower west passage off Jamestown
and Dutch Island and managed four keepers Friday and two on Sunday. It has been a slow pick with some nice fish
of size caught but not the steady pick we have witnessed the past two years fishing
off Brenton Reef and Seal Ledge area, Newport.
Fishing off Block Island in the wind farm area continues to yield fish
but not at the volume it had been early this year. Angler Mike Swain of Coventry said, “We
fished the wind farm area Sunday and hooked up with some nice fish, it’s
arguably the best fluke fishing off Rhode Island, however, it was hardly worth
the ride to fish there as we did not catch a volume of fish.”

The bluefish bite off Sabin Point and Barrington Beach has been
very good. Chris Catucci of the Tackle
Box said, “Customers are catching some bluefish of size using poggy (Atlantic
menhaden) chunks as bait. We also have a
lot on anglers catching skipjack bluefish in coves and ponds and inlets. John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait said,
“Bluefish are being caught in the Rivers.
In Pawtucket we have pogies three feet thick and some bluefish have worked
their way up the river to feed on them.”
Reports of blue fish running at Block Island an along the southern
coastal shore from Charlestown to Pt. Judith with some striped bass mixed in.

“Bonito have been running hot from the West Wall at the Harbor of
Refuge to Watch Hill with the West Wall and Weekapaug areas being the hot
spots.”, said Mike Wade of Watch Hill
Outfitters.

Tautog fishing has started to pick up as anglers are targeting them
early than usual due to a soft fluke season in shore. Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle said,
“Tautog are hitting Asian crafts with a fair bite off Jamestown and
Newport.” Sophia Garzoli weighted in a
5.7 pound tautog at Ocean State Tackle that was caught with Asian crabs off the
West Wall of the Harbor of Refuge.

About Me

Caption Dave has been fishing and shell fishing in Rhode Island for over 40 years. For fifteen years he held a scallop license on Nantucket where he fished in the winter months. He holds a captain’s master license and a charter fishing license. Read No Fluke and keep your eyes open for Captain Dave, you might catch him fishing on Narragansett Bay or near ocean coastal waters on his 26' Bonito fishing machine, Virginia Joan. There’s more than one way to catch a fish so visit Captain Dave’s website at www.noflukefishing.com and e-mail him your fishing news, photo, comments, questions and thoughts at dmontifish@verizon.net.